These are the two words that will get you upgraded to first class on a flight

Flying any sort of journey on an economy ticket can be a real pain; there’s crying babies, sweaty passengers and cramped seating to contend with. So just imagine how wonderful it would be if there was some sort of trick you could use to bag an upgrade to first class.

Lucky for you, it turns out there is!

British traveller Tilly Bagshawe, who says she travels up to 100,000 miles a year, revealed to Bloomberg a sneaky trickthat will help you get an upgrade over the phone.

What you need to do is call up the airline before your flight and say: “Have revenue management released any first-class seats for miles upgrades yet?”

‘Revenue management’ is a little-known department all airlines have, which is responsible for making sure flights are earning money.

No more boring economy flights for you Mr!

Bagshawe explained: “Not everyone knows this department exists and by mentioning it, you reveal yourself as someone who knows how things work and understands how seats are released. Say to the agent: ‘Have revenue management released any first-class seats for miles upgrades yet?’

“When they say no, ask them to check or just be put through to revenue management so you can ask when they will release some, as well as how many seats are left. Politely respond like this: ‘You have 20 seats unsold? Why aren’t you releasing them?’

“Often by the end of the conversation they say, ‘OK, we’ll release one for you,’ or they might tell you to call back tomorrow. Doing that, we’ve had a pretty much 100 per cent success rate.”

Fantastic! I will certainly be doing this the next time I’ve got a long-haul flight booked.

And this isn’t the only advice you can use to improve your trip. We recently wrote about a professional flight hacker who has a pretty extensive range of tips for going on your hols on the cheap. Head over here for all the tricks.